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<div id="topbar"><h1>Pollination &amp; Human Livelihoods</h1>
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<h2>What&#8217;s Related</h2>
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<li class="first"><a href="#" title="International Pollinator Initiative">International Pollinator Initiative</a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="Brazilian Pollinator Initiative">Brazilian Pollinator Initiative</a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="North American Pollinator Protection Campaign">North American Pollinator Protection Campaign</a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="African Pollinator Initiative">African Pollinator Initiative</a></li>
<li><a href="#" title="European Pollinator Initiative">European Pollinator Initiative</a></li>
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<h2>Pollination is Important!</h2>

<p>Pollination is a keystone process in both human managed and natural terrestrial ecosystems. It is critical for food production and human livelihoods, and directly links wild ecosystems with agricultural production systems. The vast majority of flowering plant species only produce seeds if animal pollinators move pollen from the anthers to the stigmas of their flowers. Without this service, many interconnected species and processes functioning within an ecosystem would collapse. </p>

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<img src="img/peppers.jpg" alt="A hand holding chili peppers"/>
<p>70% of the worlds major food crops benefit from animal pollination</p>
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<p>Recognising the dimensions of a &#8220;pollination crisis&#8221; and its links to biodiversity and human livelihoods, the Convention on Biological Diversity has made conservation and sustainable use of pollinators a priority. At the Fifth Conference of Parties (COP V) in 2000, an International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators (also known as the International Pollinator Initiative &#8211; IPI) was established (COP decision V/5, section II).</p>

<p>A number of regional initiatives, programmes and projects are working toward a common goal of promote the conservation and the restoration and sustainable use of pollinator diversity in agriculture and related ecosystems. Information on these initiatives and the tools and outcomes being produced can be found through the links on this website.</p>

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<h2>Quick facts</h2>
<p>There are many types of pollinators including bees, beetles, flies, wasps, moths, birds and even bats.</p>
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<h2>What is Pollination?</h2>

<h3>Pollination and the earth&#8217;s healthy functioning</h3>

<p>Pollination is critical for food production and human livelihoods, and directly links wild ecosystems with agricultural production systems. The vast majority of flowering plant species only produce seeds if animal pollinators move pollen from the anthers to the stigmas of their flowers. Without this service, many interconnected species and processes functioning within an ecosystem would collapse. With well over 200,000 flowering plant species dependent on pollination from over 100,000 other species, pollination systems shape plant communities and determine fruit and seed availability, providing tremendously important food and habitat resources for other animals.</p>

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<img src="img/monkarc.jpg" alt="Beetle on Flower"/>
<p>Monkey beetle</p>
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<h3>More is better</h3>

<p>The diversity of pollinators and pollination systems is striking. Most of the 25,000 to 30,000 species of bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are effective pollinators, and together with moths, flies, wasps, beetles and butterflies, make up the majority of pollinating species. Vertebrate pollinators include bats, non-flying mammals (several species of monkey, rodents, lemur, tree squirrels, olingo and kinkajou) and birds (hummingbirds, sunbirds, honeycreepers and some parrot species). Current understanding of the pollination process shows that, while interesting specialized relationships exist between plants and their pollinators, healthy pollination services are best ensured by an abundance and diversity of pollinators.</p>

<h3>Tropics and Mountain Ecosystems Highly Dependent on Pollinators</h3>

<p>Approximately 80 percent of all flowering plant species are specialized for pollination by animals, mostly insects. The dependence of ecosystems on animal pollinators is even stronger in the tropics than the global average: In the tropical forests of Central America, insects may be responsible for 95 percent of the pollination of canopy trees, and vertebrates (bats and a diversity of other taxa) may pollinate 20 to 25 percent of the subcanopy and understory plants, and insects a further 50 percent. Arid and mountain ecosystems often have highly diverse pollinator communities as well, with finely tuned adaptations to ensure that pollination is effective even when climatic conditions are erratic. </p>

<h3>Pollination is essential for human livelihoods</h3>

<p>In agro-ecosystems, pollinators are essential for orchard, horticultural and forage production, as well as the production of seed for many root and fibre crops. About two-thirds of the crop plants that feed the world, plus many plant-derived medicines in our pharmacies, rely on pollination by insects or other animals to produce healthy fruits and seeds. Of the slightly more than 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of national per capita food supplies for 146 countries, 71 species are bee-pollinated (but relatively few by honeybees), and several others are pollinated by thrips, wasps, flies, beetles, moths and other insects. It has been estimated that at least 20 genera of animals other than honeybees provide pollination services to the world&#8217;s most important crops. For human nutrition the benefits of pollination include not just abundance of fruits, nuts and seeds, but also their variety and quality; the contribution of animal-pollinated foodstuffs to human nutritional diversity, vitamin sufficiency and food quality is substantial.</p>

<h2>International Pollinator Initiative</h2>

<p>Having recognized the decline of pollinators, and its effect on agricultural biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, at the Fifth Conference of Parties (COP V) of the <a href="http://www.biodiv.org/" class="external" title="Convention on Biological Diversity web site">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> in 2000, an International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators (also known as the International Pollinator Initiative &#8211; IPI) was established (COP decision V/5, section II), and requested the development of a plan of action. In April 2002, the Sixth Conference of Parties established the Plan of Action of the IPI. </p>

<p>The <a href="#" title="Link to the Plan of Action of the IPI document">Plan of Action of the IPI</a> consists of four basic Elements:</p>

<ol class="alpha">
<li>Assessment</li>
<li>Adaptive Management</li>
<li>Capacity Building</li>
<li>Mainstreaming</li>
</ol>

<p>FAO has been coordinating and facilitating the implementation of the IPI by undertaking, in collaboration with numerous partners, activities that contribute to the implementation of these four elements.</p>

<p>Under the first element, FAO has been coordinating a preliminary assessment of the status and trends of pollinators throughout the world. In this context, submissions of case-studies have been invited. Case study submissions, relating to the different elements of the IPI are available here. The Rapid Assessment of Pollinators&#8217; Status report, which will be submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity is available here (complete report, executive summary).</p>

<h2>FAO&#8217;s Global Action on Pollination Services for Sustainable Agriculture</h2>

<p>(this page will be a site for accessing documents that can be downloaded. The organisation of the documents will correspond to the IPI four elements. Documents that are ready are in <strong>bold</strong>, those soon to be ready are in <em>italics</em>:</p>

<ol>
<li>Assessment
<ol class="alpha">
<li><strong>Economic valuation of pollination services</strong></li>
<li><strong>Methods for carrying out a baseline survey of the benefits and costs to farmers using of pollinator-friendly practices<br/>
(power-point tutorial, excel spreadsheet)</strong></li>
</ol></li>

<li>Adaptive Management
<ol class="alpha">
<li><em>Global Survey of Pollinator-Friendly Practices</em></li>
</ol></li>

<li>Capacity Building
<ol class="alpha">
<li><em>Curriculum for Training of Trainers (National Level)</em></li>
<li><em>Curriculum for Training of Trainers (Lead Farmers, Local Level)</em></li>
<li><em>Curriculum for Farmer Field Schools</em></li>
</ol></li>

<li>Mainstreaming
<ol class="alpha">
<li><em>Building a Pollinator Initiative: Experiences from Around the World</em></li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

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